The present invention relates to a rice washing apparatus used in a rice cooking machine in business use or the like
Heretofore, there has been well-known, as is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2609821, a rice washing apparatus which is composed of a rice washing tank formed of a cylindrical body having a lower part in an inverted conical shape, and formed at its lower end with a rice discharge port, a hollow valve rod adapted to be moved up and down in the rice washing tank and having a lower part incorporating a rice discharge valve for opening and closing the rice discharge port, and an agitating member provided to a hollow rotary shaft received therethrough with the valve rod.
However, the above-mentioned rice washing apparatus washes rice with the use of only water while agitates the rice by means of the agitating member with no impingement among grains in rice, and accordingly, the effect of polishing of the rice is low, and further, since the rice is discharged from the rice discharge port in the lower part of the rice washing tank in the conventional rice washing machine, impurities such as rice bran cannot be smoothly discharged even though the rice brain having a low specific weight inherently floats. Thus, the washing of the rice is time-consuming, thereby there has been raised a problem such that it is likely to occur fragmentation of rice.